What is A380 Upper Deck like in World Traveller on British Airways?

A friend of mine travelled from Vancouver to London Heathrow on the British Airways A380 in World Traveller on the Upper Deck. It was his first time flying long haul on BA. Not all airlines have economy class on the Upper Deck, so check out his review below.

Guest post by Vincent Bijman

British Airways fly from Vancouver to London Heathrow using an Airbus A380. The goal for this flight was to fly on the upper deck, which is a bit more special than the main deck.

Online Check In

Check in with British Airways opens 24 hours before the flight. My booking was made with American Airlines, and in order to select seats on a British Airways flight a second booking reference is automatically created for British Airways.

Get this booking reference before you fly via the app if you really want to move your seat to the upper deck as it tends to fill up quickly. On this flight, the 30 seats available filled up in about ten minutes.

Time To Board

We arrived at Vancouver International Airport, checked in our luggage (no lines, yay!), and headed through security. Vancouver International Airport is a calm and rather quiet airport, and certainly special with the massive aquarium!

BA84 – Vancouver to London Heathrow (YVR-LHR)
28 May 2018
Airbus A380-841 – G-XLEJ
Seat: World Traveller 76K
Departure: 22:40 Arrival: 14:58+1
Delay: 43 minutes

Entering the aircraft, we turned right in the second aisle. Row 76 is located between the last two emergency doors on the upper deck. Seat 76K has, unfortunately, an in-flight entertainment box beneath the seat in front, restricting the leg space.

While there was some restriction to the leg space, it was not too big a deal. The nice thing about the upper deck are the boxes the seats have next to the window for extra storage. It’s quite spacious, and it also gives a more spacious feel to the seats as you’re not next to the window directly. The bins do deserve a thorough clean though. I think the bin next to my seat was broken as I had great difficulties opening it. The press-to-release mechanism didn’t seem to function properly. I had to use a lot of force to get it open, which made me afraid I’d break it.

Ready for Take-Off

British Airways provide World Traveller passengers with earbuds, a blanket, a pillow, and an envelope to make a voluntary donation to charity.

Airbus have cleverly designed the windows – they appear to be really large but in reality are rather small. The in-flight entertainment system is rather basic but provides you with a fine variety of movies and series. Nothing in particular stands out when it comes to the entertainment, but it doesn’t fall short either. BA’s new safety video is fun and creative, it’s really a joy to watch! During take-off from Vancouver, having a view over the wing is amazing! It is massive!

Dinner Time on the Upper Deck

After take-off drinks are offered by the cabin crew. A gin and tonic comes with Gordon’s gin, which is okay, and Fever-Tree tonic, which is nice. Furthermore, they ask you straight away if you want wine to go with your dinner, which fills up your tray table.

You shouldn’t fly with British Airways for the food. Dinner was a Chicken Tikka Masala, a poor salad consisting of a ton of lettuce, a slice of cucumber and a slice of tomato, and the tiramisu for dessert was dry and seemed old. It’s been a while since I haven’t finished my plate on a flight. This is actually the first time, I think. I was really happy I ate at the airport before departing!

Breakfast Before Arrival

After dinner we were done for the night; no more drinks, snacks or anything else. The crew disappeared and we didn’t see them until morning when it was time for breakfast.

Breakfast doesn’t deserve any awards either; a bun with Philadelphia, and a cereal bar. Considering the length of the flight, it’s surprising not more is offered. We eventually landed at London Heathrow and I went off to connect to my flight to Amsterdam.

Overall Thoughts

I was excited to fly the A380 upper deck, and in general the aircraft does not disappoint. It’s spacious, feels stable, and not too noisy. BA’s service on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment.

The food was simply inedible and the flight attendants did not seem to enjoy their job. I liked getting the two drinks at first, but I would have really appreciated something like a small bottle of water like American Airlines hand out. On a long overnight flight, this would have been nice.

A380? Yes!
British Airways? Not too sure!

What do you think of World Traveller on British Airways? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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